Breathe
by GoGirl212
Summary: Jun's tired of playing the romantic fool to Ken's hot and cold moods, but can they work it out before the next mission ends in disaster? Inspired by more of Springie's gorgeous artwork.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: Over at Gatchamaina Springie has posted many beautiful pictures,_ _but the one that inspired this story was of Ken and Jun embracing, in uniform, but without their helmets. I had to figure out how that might have happened. As always, this story is dedicated to the inspiring, amazing and incredible Swans, Eagles, Condors, Owls, Swallows and Villains at Gatchamania. It would never have seen the light of day without the patience and careful editing of GroovyKat_ - _I will always be grateful to her for teaching me how to write dialogue! The mistakes remain my own, the characters were never mine to begin with._

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_**CHAPTER ONE**_  
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The trailer was small, and Joe got to the phone just at the third ring.

"What," he answered, exasperation leaching through his words even though he had no idea who was on the line.

"Joe . . . I . . . " the soft feminine voice trailed off uncertainly. The two quiet words were enough for Joe to figure it out.

"Jun," his tone shifted to one of concern, "What's wrong?" He waited for her answer, heart beginning to hammer in his chest as his adrenaline shot up. Half a dozen ugly scenarios flitted through his mind before Jun answered.

"I'm okay, I'm just . . . I need a ride, okay? I'm at a service station off of Canyon Road just past Hessel Park. The bike has a flat and I can't leave it here. I'm sorry, but since you have the trailer for the car, I thought, . . .look, can you just come get me and the bike?"

Joe paused as he considered her words. Jun sounded tired, not hurt. He exhaled forcibly and smothered his short-lived anxiety with what sounded like an exasperated sigh. "I have to hitch up the flatbed to the car. Thirty minutes."

"Thanks, Joe," Jun breathed as relief replaced uncertainty. "I owe you one."

"Yeah, whatever."

Joe smiled in spite of himself as he hung up the phone. Having Jun on the line for a favor was not necessarily a bad thing. Joe grabbed his jacket and keys and made his way to the car, buffeted by the winds left over from an earlier thunderstorm. He started up the car and drove over the muddy field that served as his front yard when he parked his trailer at this racetrack. He met up with a gravel road in front of the track's service bays and followed its curve around to the back of the garages. The racers stored their flatbeds and hitches back here, out of site of vandals and close to where they might be needed should a car take a bad hit on the track. It took only a few minutes to hitch up and then he was on his way, wipers beating out a steady cadence against the rain that had just begun to fall again.

Joe flipped on the radio to a classic rock station and settled in for the short drive up to Canyon Road. Hessel Park was not far from him. Just at the entrance to the park was a scenic overlook with a gorgeous view of the ocean - a great place to take a girl after a fine Italian meal. Joe smiled to himself as he remembered his last rendezvous at the overlook. The rain started falling harder and he cranked up his wipers to the next speed. Thinking about it, Joe wondered what Jun was doing out on the bike in this weather, up at Hessel Park no less. It was well over an hour from her place in the city, it was hardly good weather, and hell, it was nearly two in the morning. Joe felt his anger rising. Things were adding up to something unpleasant and Joe had a good idea who was behind it. "I'm getting really tired of this," he muttered to himself as he pulled off the highway and onto Canyon Road.

Ten minutes later, he was swinging past the park entrance and the overlook, noticing how there was really nothing to see thanks to the clouds and the storm. Up on the mountain it was windier and the rain sheeted across his windshield in violent gashes. Ahead he saw the light of the service station and slowed down to pull in. The station wasn't open, but the overhead lights at the two pumps were on. Jun leaned against the side of the garage right next to the phone, arms huddled around herself trying to stay dry beneath the overhang of the roof. The wind wasn't cooperating and she was drenched. The bike was in front of her, listing to one side on its kickstand. As Joe pulled up, Jun pushed herself from the wall and ran out to the bike. He swung the car and trailer around in front of the bike, then got out and extended the ramp. He grabbed the bike from Jun as she started to push it up the ramp.

"Get in the car. I've got this," he said over the wind. For a moment, he thought she was going to argue, but she nodded her thanks and ran to the passenger side to let herself in. Joe pushed the bike up onto the trailer bed, blocked the wheels and quickly lashed it in place. He was mostly wet himself by the time he made his way back to the car. He opened the door then slipped in and cranked up the heat. He glanced over at Jun who was shivering quietly, staring ahead out the blurry windshield. He looked at her profile, her jaw set but trembling and he realized she was fighting back tears.

Joe sighed then shrugged off his jacket. The outside was wet, but the inside was dry and he reached over the gear shift to put it across Jun's shoulders. She didn't protest as he closed the warm jacket around her then pulled her into his arms. She leaned into him and a strangled sob escaped her as the tears finally started to fall. He held her tightly, saying nothing. He waited patiently until her trembling subsided and he felt her breathing steady. He dropped his left arm from around her shoulders and slipped his hand through the curtain of her damp hair, lifting her chin up so he could look at her.

"Just tell me what to blow up," his serious tone belied the smile in his eyes.

Jun gave a little hiccup that might have been a giggle, wiping the tears from her face. "My hero," she smiled weakly, "Can we just go home?"

"Sure. But it's over an hour back to your place and it's already two thirty. Let's cart your bike back to my trailer and fix it up in the morning. You can just stay the night." Joe expected an argument but instead got a quiet nod of her head.

Jun sniffled and straightened up, turning her face away from him to look out the window again. Joe settled back behind the wheel and eased the car and trailer back onto the road.

Jun didn't talk to him or even look at him for the entire trip, but Joe just let it go. He hummed along to the radio and drove carefully back down from the canyon and onto the highway. The rain showed no sign of letting up as they pulled up to one of the garage bays at the track. Jun and Joe got out of the car, Joe climbing up to unlash the bike while Jun lowered the ramp and then hauled open the garage door. Joe wheeled the bike into the garage and motioned Jun back to the car while he pulled down the door. They would take a look at the bike first thing in the morning, but at least it wouldn't be soaking wet when they did.

Joe drove back over the field, fighting to keep the car out of the worst of the ditches and mud holes and parked next to the trailer. They raced for the door and the warm, dry interior. Joe immediately peeled off his wet t-shirt and made his way to his tiny bathroom/kitchen area. He exchanged the shirt for a dark blue hoodie hanging on the bathroom doorknob and slipped it over his head. He rummaged through the laundry basket jammed on top of his mostly unused stove and dug out a pair of sweat pants and another hoodie from the pile of clean, if unfolded, laundry. "That's for you," he said as he stretched out his arm with the handful of clothes. His words and gesture went unnoticed by Jun. She leaned with her back against the front door, her eyes distant and her body shivering.

"Jun," Joe called, a little more forcefully.

Roused from her thoughts by Joe's call, Jun walked over to take the offered clothing from Joe and then shut herself into the tiny bathroom to change. Joe pulled off his damp jeans, hung them over the curtain rod of his tiny kitchen window and slinked himself into a pair of flannel pajama bottoms he had plucked from the laundry basket. As he changed it dawned on him that he should have unhitched the trailer, if only to be ready in case there was a call. Hell, he should have gotten started on the bike too. With the weather outside verging on the Apocalyptic, Joe decided that there was no way he was going back out there unless Galactor was destroying something important. Worst case scenario, they'd throw the bike back on the trailer and have Ryu land somewhere so they could all link up. That resolved, he grabbed a pillow and blanket from his closet and dragged them out to the couch.

Jun emerged from the bathroom, looking very small in his too large sweats. She still looked cold, fragile and miserable. Joe sat in the middle of the couch and patted the cushion next to him. She walked over and sat down and he dropped the blanket in her lap. She tucked herself into the corner of the couch and snuggled under the blanket, leaning her head against the arm and closing her eyes.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Joe asked quietly.

"No."

"Do you want to at least tell me who upset you?"

"No."

"Okay," Joe said sharply, starting to lose his patience, "how about telling me why I had to go out at two-thirty in the morning to drag your sorry ass and your busted bike off the side of a mountain in the middle of a thunderstorm? What the hell were you doing out there?"

"Give me a break, Joe," Jun answered hotly, her eyes flaring briefly as she lifted her head and looked up at him, "It's not like you've never gone storming off on some long drive to nowhere when you were pissed off at someone."

"Yeah, but I don't joy ride a motorcycle and if I did I wouldn't take her on Canyon Road in a rainstorm," he snapped back. "So who 'pissed you off'?" he added, mirroring the tone of her recent little tirade.

Deflated by Joe's taunt, Jun shook her head and pursed her lips. She debated silently with herself, part of her wanting to talk about it and part of her unsure if Joe was the person to open up to. She flicked her eyes to one side and let her body release with a deep sigh, "Me. I was pissed at myself." Her face creased in a tight wince as she continued, "I'm so angry at myself, so tired of it all. I'm tired of trying so hard. Why do I keep reaching out just to get slapped down time and time again?" Her eyes slid to his as her voice dropped in octave and decibels. "What's wrong with me?"

The answer to who had upset her became instantly obvious. "Ken," Joe breathed in annoyance.

"No! It's not Ken, it's me!" Jun snapped in frustration. "He brushes me off all the time and I just keep going back for more. I'm not pissed at Ken. I'm hurt and I'm disappointed, but I'm pissed at myself because I'm the idiot who keeps trying." She hiccupped. "What is wrong with me? I think about him all the time, make up excuses to hang out with him; I say the stupidest things sometimes just to talk to him. God, I have an IQ of 165 but I'm still like _'gee Ken, what should we do about the big scary mecha?_'" she paused long enough to take a deep breath and look at Joe with a pained expression as if searching for empathy inside his grey eyes. Her voice softened again. "I lived on the streets with Jinpei and can handle an entire squad of Galactor goons on my own but I turn to mush the minute Ken goes off to do something dangerous. I can bring down an entire base with one perfectly placed explosive but I can't figure out how to stop throwing myself at some guy who obviously doesn't want me. I am so so stupid!"

"Hey," Joe said with a soft reassuring smile, "you just called one of my best friends stupid. I've killed people for less," he smiled at her, but she shook her head and looked away, fighting tears again. Joe shifted closer and put his hand over hers along the back of the couch. "You are not stupid or an idiot," he said quietly, "I think you are in love."

"Then I don't want to be," Jun said, her voice cracking, "I don't want this any more." Jun pulled her legs up to her chest and tightened her arms around them, laying her forehead on her knees. She cried quietly as Joe reached out and stroked her hair.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

Compared to the overcast skies the day before, the sun was ruthless at eight o'clock the next morning. It didn't care that Joe had gotten only four hours of sleep, all of which were spent cramped on the edge of the couch. The sun was now blasting in his face and once he was up, he was up. He and Jun had both fallen asleep on the couch, Jun along the inside, her legs stretched out and her feet tucked under his thigh, while Joe had clung to the outside, sleeping on his right side and trying not to fall onto the coffee table.

"_Sometimes it pays to be a ninja,"_ Joe thought to himself as maneuvered off the couch without so much as a twitch of a cushion and silently padded his way into the small kitchenette. He found the coffee, dumped the old grounds, and fired up the machine to brew twelve cups. He felt he was going to need them all. While the coffee brewed, he slipped into the bathroom for a quick shower.

He wandered out of the bathroom, towel wrapped lazily, but securely around his waist. He gnawed on his toothbrush as he used both hands to scrape another towel over his hair and scanned the tiny kitchenette for his beat up enamel coffee cup. He raised a brow in surprise to see Jun holding it as she sat at his tiny kitchen table, inhaling the steam wafting from the cup.

"I didn't think you'd be up yet," he mumbled around the toothbrush.

"I couldn't resist the smell of the coffee," she smiled back sleepily.

Joe walked to the kitchen sink and spit the toothpaste. He crudely cupped his hand under the running faucet to loudly slurp up a handful of water to rinse his mouth. He flicked the toothbrush into a novelty racing mug on the window sill and poured himself a cup of coffee. Joe's eyes were locked on her appraising look as he gingerly sipped at his hot coffee and sat down in front of her.

Jun arched an eyebrow at him. "Don't you think you should put on some clothes?" she asked.

"Why? Are you going to jump me?" Joe smirked, setting his shoulders back with a sexy shrug.

Jun laughed. "Yeah, that's my big plan," Jun answered, "This whole thing was a ruse so I could get you cornered in a towel."

"Okay," Joe said, with a delighted grin.

"Shut up," Jun said rolling her eyes, her cheeks taking on a pretty pink blush as she took a sip of her coffee. "Stop teasing me."

"Well, at least you're laughing."

Jun looked down into her coffee, "Joe, I'm really sorry I dumped all that on you last night. I wanted to keep it to myself, just go for a ride and blow off the steam." She looked up at him then added, "You were right, it was a stupid thing to do in the middle of a rainstorm. Thanks for rescuing me."

Joe smiled at her, "That's not a freebie. You owe me one," He watched a smile dance at the corners of her mouth. "Look," he continued, "it's okay for you to come here if you have a problem. I know I'm not the easiest person to talk to, but I would never turn you away. Okay? No more middle of the night motorcycle rides. Just come here. You know where the key is."

"Thanks," she reached out across the table and took his hand, "You are a true friend. I really appreciate you."

"It's the towel, right?"

"You are impossible," Jun laughed, and then got up from the table to take a shower of her own.

****

Joe got to work patching the tire while Jun got a rag and started cleaning the mud and grime from the motorcycle. They shared a companionable silence for a while, enjoying the work and the clear, bright sky. Eventually, Joe sat back on his heels and inspected his handiwork. "Well that should get you back to base at least. I'd get a new tire on right away. The patch is only a temporary solution."

"I'll take care of it." Jun answered. She tossed her rag down on the concrete floor and sat back, pulling her knees up to her chest. "I wish you could just patch me up too." she said wistfully.

"Actually," Joe replied with a thoughtful pout of his lips, "I've been thinking about that." He settled back onto the floor beside her. "I don't think it is possible to change how you feel. I know I can't. When I feel something, I just feel it. I have to let it happen. But maybe you can change how you act," Joe ran his hands through his long brown hair and smiled to himself, "I guess that sounds funny coming from me."

"No, not funny, more like . . . weird. " Jun answered with a slight smile. "I'm not used to you being the philosopher." She continued sincerely, reaching out to place a hand on Joe's arm, "I know how hard you try Joe. I know that you try to do what is right for the team even when you want to do something else. I know that can't be easy."

"It isn't," Joe replied simply, "But that doesn't mean I just stop trying." Joe looked at Jun and met her earnest gaze with a direct one of his own, "I think you can do the same thing with Ken. Don't make his problems your problems. Don't follow him around trying to fix him up. Sometimes it's best to do nothing, or do something else. There are lots of ways to love a person. You don't have to keep choosing ones where you end up hurt all the time."

"Joe, I don't think I can just shut him out. I would feel horrible and it would be so mean," Jun hugged her knees again, tears forming in her eyes, "How can I treat someone I care about so poorly? I couldn't do that to any of you."

"I didn't say treat him like crap," Joe answered, "I'm just saying you don't have to keep putting yourself in a position where you're going to get hurt. It's like beer. You might love beer, but if you keep drinking it, you'll just get fat. So go ahead, love the beer, but stop drinking it!"

"Joe, I'm not sure that makes any sense," Jun replied, shaking her head.

"Jun, it's real simple. Just stop doing things that hurt you. No matter what the reason might be, even if you think it is to help Ken, it isn't worth it."

"You mean I need to make the choices that are good for me," Jun answered.

"Yeah, I think that's what I'm saying. Do something else instead. Something you know will make you feel good, not bad. Like don't just ask Ken out for pizza, ask all of us. You'll have a good time no matter who comes and you won't be setting yourself up for disappointment if Ken doesn't show. I'd go. I'd even pay," Joe joked, trying to get a smile out of Jun. She looked distraught and anxious, but she wasn't crying anymore and maybe she was taking in what he was trying to say. She didn't answer him, but rested her chin on her knees and looked out toward the sunlight and the blue sky and sighed deeply. Joe considered if he had said too much. Who the hell was he to give advice about controlling ones actions anyway? He was always getting called to the carpet for going off on his own, disobeying orders, arguing with Ken, but deep down, Joe knew he did try. He knew that most of the time, he did what was asked of him by Ken, by Hakase, by the team. He struggled with it daily, but most of the time, he won - even if the others didn't see it that way.

Now, this business with Ken and Jun -- that everyone could see, except maybe Ken himself. How a man, any man, could be so dense when it came to women was just beyond Joe. Women and cars were two things that were as easy to Joe as breathing. He had a hard time figuring out how Ken could miss such obvious signals. Or even worse in Joe's mind, ignore them. He looked over at Jun staring at the blue skies, her dark hair shining so deeply in the sunlight it almost looked green, and not for the first time wondered what might have been between them if she was just the bartender at the J and not his teammate. It was galling him that Jun was miserable and Joe had an overwhelming desire to fix it. He was tired of this drama, hell the entire team was. All of his attempts to talk to Ken about it had ended up in either a fist fight or one of them storming off and not speaking to the other for days. Maybe it was time for Joe to cut the chatter and do what he did best - stir things up and make trouble. Maybe he could make Ken see what he didn't want to hear.

"_Yeah,"_ Joe thought to himself, "_I'm going to rock his comfortable little world_."

Before Joe could say anything further to Jun, her bracelet chirped.

"G1 to G3. Do you copy?'

"Yes, I'm here" Jun answered quietly, "Go ahead."

"I just talked to Jinpei and he said you weren't home when he got up. Everything okay?'

Before Jun could answer, Joe coolly chimed in, "G2 here. We're at the track patching up the tire on her bike. Everything's fine." Jun's eyes widened in surprise that he had interrupted the conversation, but she said nothing.

There was a slight pause before Ken answered, "Oh, okay. Don't forget, we have practice at eleven."

"Yeah, yeah. We'll be there. G2 out." Joe shook his head, "What a nag. I should show up late out of spite."

Jun gave a light chuckle, "We should finish up and get going. Can you follow me in case there's a problem with the patch?'

"There won't be," Joe said smugly, "But yeah, I'll follow you."

*****

The ride to base was uneventful and Jun and Joe stopped at the motor pool to leave instructions for the mechanics to get the tire replaced. They had a routine sparring practice scheduled so they headed to the locker rooms next to the gym change to workout clothes. Galactor had been quiet for nearly a week now and it was putting everyone a little bit on edge, Ken most of all. He had gotten into the habit of assembling the team daily during these slow periods. Keeping everyone active helped burn off the anxious energy of just waiting around and they used these lulls to hone fighting skills and practice new techniques. They were focusing on close quarters hand-to-hand today and Ken opted for the team to skip the birdstyle for this session.

Jun wasn't looking forward to this. Usually she liked these sessions; the time spent with her family, even in the gym, raised her spirits no matter what the problem. But today, she felt trapped inside of herself. It was all just going to be a repeat of everything and no way to break out of this unbearable cycle with Ken. Their sparring would be filled with the usual banter and ease they shared with each other. Her heart would lift at his smile and his playful jokes and then, when they really got into it, the intensity of the workout, the physical closeness would cause that electrical connection between them to pulsate with desires and passions they only allowed themselves to explore on the gym floor. Afterward, in the shower, Jun would try to calm her heightened senses while still reveling in the warm emotions coursing through her. Emboldened by what had passed between them, she would fabricate some reason to spend time with him and hope to prolong the feeling. Or make sure she was up early at breakfast the next day knowing he might stop at the Snack J before starting his air deliveries. She lived or died on the quality of his smile. That connected feeling could last between them for days, carrying them through missions, and briefings and his arguments with Joe. Then suddenly, that smile just wouldn't be there and something inside of her would crumble. Ken could just turn off his feelings for her like a light switch and it hurt, shamed and enraged her all at the same time.

Jun thought about what Joe had said, about the idea of her being in love. Was it possible to be in love with someone you had never been on a date with? Had never even kissed? Jun thought she had been in love once, with Koji, but that had felt differently then this. Koji had been an easy and comfortable relationship, but her heart didn't do somersaults at his touch the way it did with Ken. Funny, companionable, and free-spirited, she had adored him but never felt consumed by him. Ken's presence felt overwhelming sometimes, where Koji was, well, just Koji. There were times when Jun was frightened by the intensity of her feelings for Ken. She fought desperately to keep it professional and to live up to the high standards that were set for all of the team, but she couldn't just ignore how she felt either. Even if her gestures were small, she felt compelled to express what was in her heart.

This was getting her nowhere. Forcing her thoughts away from Ken, she finished getting dressed and headed toward the gym. As she opened the door Jun rolled her eyes at Joe waiting for her in the hallway, arms crossed and leaning on the wall opposite the locker room. She should have assumed she wasn't going to get to practice without some choice commentary from Joe.

"Took you long enough," he smirked.

While his teasing was hardly unexpected Jun couldn't stop her defenses from rising. An exasperated sigh escaped from her lips as her posture stiffened in warning that she wasn't in the mood to be teased.

Joe read her change immediately and took a conciliatory step back. He held his hands up in front of him to seek pause. "I'm kidding, " Joe defended with an apologetic smile. "It's going to be a long practice if you're already _this_ cranky."

"Joe, cut it out," Jun answered, sounding defeated, "I don't need this right now. All I need is to just get through this and go home." She turned to walk away but found herself lightly restrained as Joe reached out and reassuringly grabbed at her upper arm. She inhaled lightly as she felt his grip change to a tentative caress along the back of her arm. His tender gesture caught her off guard but she was wary of him slinging another biting comment her way. "Joe," she breathed in warning, conflicted by the jumble of feelings warring in her heart.

"Sorry," he said sincerely as he gently stroked her smooth skin, "I was just trying to cheer you up." His words hitched as Jun shrugged his hand from her arm. As she breathed in a shaking sniff and let her shoulders slump in complete resignation. Joe felt his heart catch with unexpected emotion. Something tugged at his very core to see her so sad. This was not going the way the Condor had planned. He reached out to her again. "Come here," Joe said as he tugged her around to face him. He slid his hand down her arm to take her hand in his. "I have something for you that I know will make you feel better," he smiled down at her with a wicked grin, "a new fighting move to try."

Jun let out an acquiescent sigh and looked up at him. Joe was right; it was going to be a long practice if she couldn't shake this mood. After all that Joe had done for her over the last few hours, the least she could do was give it her best shot not to take out her frustrations on him. She focused on his words – of his promise of a new fighting technique – and had to purse her lips in curiosity. It was hardly a surprise that Joe knew her well enough to find the perfect bait to draw her focus away from her moody despair. Of all the team he was the most intuitive, and to some degree the most attentive. He was trying to cheer her up, and had found the perfect distraction to do so. Intrigued, she let her curiosity take hold and the question was out before she had a chance to think better of it. "Alright, what do you have in mind?" she asked.

"I've been thinking about this for a bit actually," Joe started, still holding her hands "but it only just came to me how to make it work." He paused long enough to inhale, and lightly tightened his hold on her hands. "Ken and I do a two-man counter balanced flying kick, but we've had execution problems since the start. I do the lift, but unless his momentum is just right, we can't maintain the force we need to make it an effective attack. So it's become a defensive maneuver rather than an attack – which is its purpose. Now if you and I teamed on it, we could easily make it into an attack formation." Joe watched as Jun's eyes flared in contemplation, and felt a triumphant smile try to force its way to his lips. He had her, and he knew it.

Jun's eyes were still wide and she tipped her head to the side to visualize the form in her mind and assess how it would work with her in the spot Ken usually held. "I don't know, don't you think that my lighter weight would throw off the balance?"

"No, I think if I modify the lift from the start, then we change the balance point. Something like this," Joe slipped his left hand to Jun's hip, while the right pulled down, giving her a strong base to lean on.

"Oh, I see . . . " Jun leaned into his supporting hand and put her right hand on his shoulder. She pressed up and felt the start of the lift take her to her toes. "Yes, that could work," she thought a moment, "but I think you need to get me a little lower." Jun repositioned his hand lower on body, just below her hipbone, and leaned into him again.

Caught up in figuring out the physical puzzle, Jun didn't notice that Ken had entered the hallway from the men's locker room and had paused in the open doorway. While she may have been oblivious to the Eagle watching the display, Joe wasn't. His eyes shimmered with a hidden smirk as he leaned his mouth down to Jun's ear. "I think you might be too far away, pull in a little closer."

Jun took a small step toward him and looked up at him, "Better?"

Joe's eyes narrowed in marriage with the sardonic grin teasing his lips. His breath ghosted hoarsely along her cheek as he wrapped his words in enough grease to be immediately misinterpreted by any passer by. "Yeah, I think that's perfect,"

Joe's eyes latched onto his Commander's expression eager to see how the Distinguished Eagle Leader would react. He was pleased to find Ken's face was a most unusual shade of red as he watched their intimate embrace. Joe looked down at Jun and gave her an uncharacteristically tender smile, just to put the icing on the cake.

"You're late," Ken snapped at them, the harsh edge to his voice startling Jun. She immediately dropped her hands from Joe and stepped back.

"Oh, Ken . . . we were just . . . " Jun said haltingly, flustered and confused at Ken's obvious displeasure. Ken cut her off before she could continue.

"I don't need to hear it," Ken said flatly, a slight waver in his tone mitigating his aggression somewhat. " But I do need you to get focused and get to practice." Without saying anything further, he turned on his heel and stalked off to the gym.

A gasp of dismay escaped from between Jun's lips and she jumped as the locker room door slammed behind Ken. Her first instinct was to chase after him and apologize to set things right. It bothered her to see Ken out of sorts over anything, but particularly something she had done. She made every attempt to always be conscientious of her duties and responsibilities. Ken had enough to worry about without her adding to his burdens. But as she considered it, she realized she hadn't done anything to deserve that much antagonism. She tried so hard to make sure he was never the brunt of her bad moods. The least he could do was attempt the same. It was just another instance of him acting on his own feelings without any regard for hers. Jun straightened her shoulders and felt her defeated attitude disappear underneath her warrior's resolve. This is exactly what Joe had been talking about and she was _not_ going to do this to herself. "What's _his_ problem," she muttered with a low voice. "Who needs this drama?"

"You're in for it now," Joe teased wryly. Inwardly he was proud of Jun. He had half expected her to go flying after Ken but she had surprised him. As for Ken's reaction? That was priceless. Feeling smug about his good deed for the day, he pulled a shuriken from his belt and twirled it across his knuckles.

Jun playfully narrowed her eyes at him and snatched the feather from his fingers as though commanding his absolute attention. "If I'm going down, you're coming with me," she grinned as she popped the tip of the feather into her mouth and let it sit between her teeth. "You teased me with a new attack and made me lose track of time. This is your fault." Jun raised a chiding finger, but there was a smile in her eyes nonetheless.

"Well, it's not like I forced you," Joe shrugged as he snatched his feather back from her and pushed himself away from the wall to usher Jun down the hall. "Did you see the look on Ken's face?" He winked suggestively as he slipped the feather that had just been in her mouth between his lips.

Her eyes glanced curiously toward Joe. "Yeah, what was that about? Talk about grouchy." Jun gave a gentle laugh "He usually only looks like that just before he hits you."

Joe spared Jun a sidelong glance of his own as they strode toward the training room together. Her expression was completely innocent; she had no idea the effect she had just had on Ken, or what had really prompted his anger. She also had no idea of the effect her proximity had just had on him either.

"Yeah," Joe sighed after a minute, "It's going to be a long practice after all."


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

Ken stood with arms folded across his chest as he peered intently at the enormous window and ever-changing seascape before him. He ignored the fish and instead concentrated on the interactions of his team, gathered behind him, reflected in the glass. His eyes settled first on Jun seated on one end of the couch. His peripheral vision took in Ryu on the other side and Jinpei snuggled between them. The young Swallow had a coy look on his face as he did his best to appear to all present that he was playing a video game; but all the while he was surreptitiously attempting to untie Ryu's shoelaces. Ken's attention fell to Joe who had uncharacteristically perched himself on the arm of the couch next to Jun. Joe twirled one of his trademark shuriken through his fingers and smirked at Jun's animated recounting of an incident at the Snack J from the night before.

Ken frowned as he tried to pick up the details of the conversation. After their workout yesterday afternoon Joe had asked Ken to come out to the bar that night, but he had begged off, saying he had to catch up on some deliveries and do some maintenance at the airfield. In truth, Ken had needed time to himself to process the events of the afternoon. In his opinion, it had been one of the worst practice sessions he could remember. Nothing went majorly wrong, but Ken was sensitive to the subtle dynamics within his team and for the first time since they had been activated, he felt like something significant had shifted. Some part of him wanted to blame Joe, and certainly his sudden interest in Jun was as disconcerting as it was inappropriate. He thought both of them would have had better sense then that. But that wasn't what had colored the entire practice session. It was an abrupt and unnerving feeling of isolation, as if his connection to the entire team was faltering because his connection to Jun was suddenly gone.

From their very first training sessions years ago, Jun had put an innate trust in him -- in his ability to lead, to fight, to keep her safe. Ken had never analyzed her unabashed devotion to him, or how integral her faith in him had been to his development as a leader, a commander, a person. He never considered it because it had simply always been there. He had also never questioned his own devotion to her. Loving Jun was like breathing; it was just something he did. Ken knew it was inappropriate because she was his subordinate, and that his duty to the team precluded any other relationship ever coming first, but what he felt for Jun simply existed in the core of his being and no attempt to squelch it had ever been successful. They had never talked about it, but Ken _knew_ that their attraction was mutual and deep. It went far beyond the physical, as intense as that was, to something stranded through the fabric of their beings, woven within each of them since the start of time itself. They both understood why he could never act on his feelings, even the slightest gesture was a betrayal of his responsibilities. But something had shifted yesterday now it seemed like she had never loved him at all.

Ken caught the sound of Jun's laughter rise above the conversation and felt an empty pain twist in his gut. She felt lost to him. Never much one for introspection, Ken had taken to the air yesterday searching the clouds for something he couldn't define until his low fuel gauge forced him back to the ground. He spent a lonely night at the airfield wrestling down a deadly black mood. Part of him longed to head out to the Snack to find solace and comfort and part of him was terrified it wouldn't be there. He didn't know how to set himself right without the compass of his team, his family, to guide him. Ken sighed and hung his head. He didn't like this feeling of being an outsider within his own team, but was Jun to blame or was it his own fault?

Ken turned sharply at the sound of a small outburst . He was stunned to see Jun shove Joe off the arm of the couch. Joe righted himself then pushed her back, forcing her practically into Jimpei's lap. The boy squealed in protest and slid to the floor, but quickly realized this was an excellent opportunity to start to work on Ryu's other shoelace. For his part, the big man reached an arm around Jun and across the back of the couch trying to slap Joe on the back of the head while Joe attempted to retaliate in kind. Ken couldn't help but let a warm smile find its way to his eyes as Jun, sandwiched between the two men, looked up at him with a plea of helpless distress. That small connection felt like an invitation to Ken, but before he could walk over to the quartet, the office door swished open to admit an intense and focused Dr. Nambu.

"Team," he grunted in an authoritative boom that warned all present to cease and desist in any shenanigans. He pressed a calculated series of buttons on a keypad beside his laptop and a holographic image of a family of three suddenly hovered above his desk. He waited until the team had quieted and offered him their full attention. "This is Dr. Charles Goodwin and his family. Dr. Goodwin is a brilliant young scientist who has been working on an extremely sensitive project for the ISO. We are hoping his research on magnetism will lead us to new shielding and weapons to arm ISO forces and possibly even the God Phoenix." Nambu tapped again on the keypad and the image shifted to a map of the northern region. "Dr. Goodwin and his family were housed at our research facility near Indiria. They failed to turn return to their home after attending a concert at their son's school. Bobby is a gifted pianist and Dr. Goodwin refused to work with us unless we found a location near a suitable conservatory for his son."

"But that boy's so young to go to a conservatory," Jun observed.

"Yes, he is only nine, but he is considered a prodigy," Nambu replied. "And, he shows the same genius for mathematics, perhaps even outshining, his father. We think Galactor has them both and we want them and Dr. Goodwin's research back. The technology Dr. Goodwin was developing would be devastating in the hands of our enemies."

"Where the hell was their security detail?' Joe asked as he slid his arms to cross tightly against his chest. "Seems like they really blew it."

Nambu tapped once more and the map highlighted a route between the conservatory and the research facility. Then it rotated to show the topography through the mountainous region. "Intelligence from the region suggests that they were ambushed here," Nambu said as he pointed at a glowing green circle that marked an area approximately half way along the route in a deep valley. "We found plenty of skid marks and shards of metal and plastic, but no sign of the Goodwins or their detail."

"How long ago?" Ken asked.

"Twelve hours. Galactor hasn't had time to move them out of the region. We think they must be operating from a base in the vicinity of our research lab." Nambu key stroked again and the map rotated back to an overhead view and expanded to show a larger area. "Indiria is a small country with treacherous mountain terrain. The overland roads are closely monitored by security and airspace is severely restricted. Had Galactor attempted to relocate the Goodwins, they would have been immediately observed by any number of surveillance outposts." Nambu stood up and flicked the side of his light blue sport jacket to thrust a hand inside his pocket. He lowered his head thoughtfully and rubbed at his chin. When he addressed the team leader, it was without eye contact. "I need you to find the Galactor base, rescue the Goodwin family and destroy the research. Neither the research nor the Goodwins can be allowed to remain in Galactor's hands." His raised his eyes to look above the rim of his glasses at Ken, an implied expectation for an affirmative answer

Ken's eyes narrowed and his posture straightened proudly as he answered Nambu with a look down his nose, "Doctor, we will bring them back. You can count on us."

The remaining team members stood as Nambu stooped to gather his papers. There were no murmurs from any team member, only the exuding essence of complete obedience and will to move out. He hid a smile as he slid the folders into a neat bundle and looked up before he prepared to gather the tactical teams in the communications room. He took in their earnest faces and determined stance, and not for the first time felt pride at the family he had created in order to save the world. Moved as he often was at these crucial moments when he knew only the Team was standing between success and utter defeat his orders for final dismissal were heartfelt, "Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, I pray for your success!" The team returned the formal salute and Nambu strode from the room, going now to convince a collection of multi-starred generals that merely blowing up the base after they found it was not going to solve the problem.

As soon as the door clicked closed the team shifted their attention to Ken, who immediately began issuing orders. "Ryu start a full systems and weapons check. We haven't been out in almost three weeks and I want to know what the techs have been tinkering with." He turned to Jinpei, "Get started with Ryu and then pull the standard surveillance logs and start looking for any relevant communications transmissions the techs might have missed."

Ryu grabbed Jinpei by the collar. "Come on, short stuff. Let's see what's wired backwards this time," he said as they left the room, his untied laces flapping down the hall.

Ken turned next to Joe. "Joe, get in front of a terminal and start looking for that base. Pull up surveillance shots, construction records, traffic cams - anything you can think of to pin down a possible location."

Joe snorted with annoyance, "Great idea. Instead of flying over there and doing some fast, hard reconnaissance, let's just waste another day staring at the computer."

"Joe, I don't need the attitude right now," Ken growled as he stalked toward him. "I need you to get on it. We don't have the time to wander around aimlessly looking for something to shoot." He wiped his suddenly sweating palms against his thighs and continued. "When Nambu says something can't remain in Galactor's hands he means that he'll have us destroy it if we can't recover it. Even if that means that whole family dies." Ken heard Jun's outraged gasp at his statement, but he didn't break eye contact with Joe. "So why don't you just do what you're asked for a change?"

"Why don't you ask me to do something useful instead of playing junior detective in the computer lab," Joe retorted.

"I don't care what you think of it, but that was an order," Ken breathed, his tone dangerously quiet.

"Fine," Joe said. He stepped forward to bring himself nose to nose with Ken. His eyes locked with Ken's as he addressed the teams' female member. "Let's go, Jun. Since_ you_ are the computer expert maybe you can show me how to turn one on."

"No," Ken replied simply, with a light and deadly smile, "Jun's with me."

Joe did little more than arch an eyebrow in response to Ken's words. He considered giving a snort, but honestly didn't want to waste the energy. His grey eyes flared in defiance as Ken's blue eyes narrowed in warning. The silence between the two raptors, their bodies rigidly locked in a nose-to-nose staring contest, was like a neon sign to Jun who silently watched. Their body language warned of an imminent blow-out. She felt her own frustrations bubble to the surface and strode over to the pair.

"Can you two please drop it!" she ordered with uncharacteristic anger. The unusual edge in her voice immediately drew the attention of both men. "There is a young boy and his parents who need our help and I will not waste time while you two argue. When the two of you figure out who won the pissing contest, page me so I can tell you how the rescue mission went." She was obviously frustrated and turned her back on both of them. "I'm getting so sick of this," she declared as she folded her arms with an exasperated sigh.

A tense silence hung over the room a moment until Ken stepped back to lean casually on Nambu's desk. Joe had a legendary temper and a short fuse that starkly contradicted Ken's reputed calm. This "calm", however, didn't extend much further than the wingspan of his mantle, and while he may never have been willing to admit it to anyone beyond his own conscience, he knew he himself could be just as stubborn and intense as Joe.

He rubbed at his brow. Jun was right, now wasn't the time to indulge personal emotions. Right now he needed to diffuse the tension between himself and Joe and get the work done. He continued in a more reasonable tone, "Look Joe, I want to blast Galactor out of the sky as much as you do but I think this will be the fastest way to find them. I need you to start working on the surveillance data while Jun and I start back tracking the family's movements at the conservatory and the research facility. I think there must have been some insider information passed to pull this off and I need Jun's computer skills to hack the systems to see if I'm right. "

Joe studied Jun's tense posture a moment and then conceded. "I'll see you in the lab, Commander," he answered with a smirk and then stalked away. He paused at the doorway and turned back, a teasing comment playing at his lips. But as he looked at Ken, leaning against the desk with his head bowed, and Jun, still rigidly facing away from Ken, he for once let discretion rule and quietly made his way from the room.

Ken raised a hand to rub at his eyes. He felt the first stirrings of a tension headache coming on. Everything just felt wrong. Joe's crappy attitude was unwarranted, Jun's sudden flare of temper disturbing, and even Ryu had beat a hasty retreat as if he had sensed impending danger. He ran a hand through his unruly hair and raised his head to find Jun staring at him, her eyes wide and apologetic.

"I'm . . . I'm sorry, Ken," Jun said humbly, " I shouldn't have yelled," she trailed off, biting her lower lip. She couldn't seem to find the right words with which to apologize to him. She squared back her shoulders to retreat into her professional persona. It was The Swan who continued, "I think we should get to work, Commander. It will take a while to crack the Research Lab and I think we should start there to see who might have been monitoring Dr. Goodwin's communications."

Ken locked an analytical gaze on Jun. She may have taken on the demeanor of the utmost professional, but it was obviously forced. With an almost indiscernible movement of his head he nodded his agreement. He lightly touched his fingers to the small of her back and gestured to allow Jun to lead the way out of the room. As Ken followed after her he couldn't shake the feeling of wrongness that just seemed to be permeating all of his interactions with Jun and Joe.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

Five frustrating hours later, Ken and Jun were still slogging through the human resources records of the staff at the Research Lab with no more leads than when they had started. Joe had managed a little bit better luck and had come up with about two dozen possible locations based on construction areas surveyed by satellite and delivery records from the major food suppliers in the area. Even Galactor goons had to eat.

Ken's eyestrain had blossomed to a full-blown headache along with his frustration at Jun for not getting anywhere with their search.

"Jun, just give it up," he said in tired exasperation. "We're not going to find anything in the personnel records. That's just too obvious."

Jun sat back in her chair. She took her hands from the keyboard, wiped them on her thighs and finally settled into a light slouch with her hands in her lap. ."Yes, Commander," she said passively. "What would you like me to try next?"

"How about looking at Goodwin's research, or the Director's bank accounts, or . . . " Frustration paired with his aching head and Ken finally snapped. "Hell, I don't know! Do you think maybe you could come up with some ideas here? I feel like I'm working alone on this," Ken punctuated his demand with a low growl as he angrily raked his fingers through his thick, auburn hair to push it out of his eyes. He looked up to find Jun staring at him with wide eyes, obviously hurt at his stinging words. He took a deep breath and sighed. This wasn't going well and taking it out on Jun wasn't going to fix it. Ken regained his composure and continued in a gentler tone, "I think we need a break for a minute. Okay?"

Jun pushed her chair back from the computer console and stood. "Sure, Commander," she replied quietly, giving him a weak smile. She put her arms up and indulged in a long deep stretch that lengthened her svelte frame and arched her back into a light arc. Jun reveled in the luxurious stretch and allowed a soft, pleasured moan to escape her lips. She inhaled then deepened the stretch and exhaled again with a sigh that almost purred her delight in her physical release.

Ken couldn't help but watch, enthralled as Jun's long limbs drew her form into a gentle, curving sweep graceful enough to rival any ballet dancer. He watched her face relax as the tension slipped past her lips with each gentle moan and Ken found himself wondering what trick she had that let a simple stretch change her entire demeanor. As she held the stretch and took another deep breath that hitched in with a whispered sigh, Ken felt a sense of separation, of remoteness again. He had no idea what she was thinking right now, and that unnerved him.

Jun relaxed and rolled her body a little to loosen the stretch. She let her arms drop back down to her sides and opened her eyes. Her deep green eyes were alert, but she offered Ken no clues about what she was on her mind as she met his gaze. "I'm going to check on Ryu and Jinpei. Ryu should be done by now and maybe he can help us."

"Good idea," Ken answered her before he cleared his throat to erase his unease. "Maybe Ryu can start looking at Dr. Goodwin's research and see what technology we might be up against?"

"I'll get him started, Commander," Jun replied, then started for the door. Before she got within range of its proximity sensor, it swished open to admit Joe, a sheaf of paper in his hands and a pile of rolled up blue prints tucked under his arm.

Joe brushed past her with a companionable wink and dropped his papers and plans on the table behind her. He looked from her to Ken and back again and got the distinct feeling he had just missed something. Since no one seemed to be talking he shrugged it off and moved to the bank of computers lining the wall of the lab. Joe slid his lean frame behind one of the terminals and started tapping out a staccato rhythm on the keyboard.

Jun was unsure if she should leave these two alone after the scene they had made a few hours ago. With Ken's obvious bad mood, she didn't know if she could trust him not to lose it this time. Still, she also knew better then to get between them if what they really wanted to do was go at it. Jun flipped her hair over her shoulder and made her way to the door. It sensed her approach and slid open with a "swoosh" as she neared the exit.

"Hey, Junie," Joe called out at the sound without taking his gaze off the monitor in front of him. "Can you bring me back a cup of coffee on your way back? A really _really_ big cup of coffee?" He slid his eyes hopefully toward her and smiled.

She smiled back at him. "Sure, no problem."

"Oh and make it black with . . . " he started

" . . . with sugar," she interjected with a playfully dismissive wave of her hand. "I think I know by now how you like your coffee, Joe" Without further word she was out the door.

Ken noted the exchange and turned to Joe with an arched brow. Sensing he was being stared at, Joe shot a sidelong glance at his Commander.

"Yes?" Joe questioned, drawing out the word, "Is there something you want?'

"Junie?" Ken replied, "Since when is she _Junie_?"

"Since . . . I don't know actually," Joe answered as he slid his gaze back to the computer screen. He let his fingers slide along the track pad, "I've called her that before."

"Not that I've heard," Ken said with a slight edge to his voice.

"Well, maybe you just haven't been listening closely enough," Joe replied coolly, "Sometimes I think you don't have any idea what is going on right under your own nose."

Ken felt his anger rise. "Okay, Joe, educate me. Just what's going on?"

"Nothing new if that's what you're asking," Joe replied with a smirk, "just same old same old."

Ken advanced on Joe and leaned over him. He rested one hand on the monitor in front of him and the other on the back of Joe's chair. "Cut the crap, Joe," Ken snarled in his ear, "I know something is up with Jun and if you're playing her . . ." Ken's comment cut short as Joe whirled around in his chair to face him.

"Try again, Ken. I'm not _playing_ her," Joe said hotly, "But, unlike you, I'm not _ignoring_ her either!"

Ken felt his fist clench at the accusation but before anything could get further out of hand, Jinpei ran into the room and skidded to a stop before his two older brothers.

"I've got it! I've got something!" he squealed, clearly pleased with himself.

Ken straightened up and stepped away from Joe, quickly dampening down his anger to focus on the exuberant Swallow. He motioned as though ready to ask what, but was interrupted by his second.

"Okay, squirt, okay," Joe said. Fearing he may succumb to sea sickness if the boy didn't stop moving, he reached out a hand to stop Jinpei from bouncing, "good for you. Now spit it out already."

"I looked at the transmission traffic for known Galactor ops on the surveillance logs. There wasn't anything unusual, not a peep before the abduction. But afterward, there was lots of chatter 'bout Mozart," Jinpei stared expectantly at the older boys, clearly waiting for a reaction. He was mildly disappointed when Joe and Ken just stared back at him with blank expressions. "Geesh," Jinpei muttered with a roll of his eyes "Mozart? The piano guy? He was a child prodigy! A prodigy, just like the kid! Mozart is their code name for Bobby!"

"How do you know about Mozart?' Joe asked.

"I know about a lot of stuff," Jinpei answered as he puffed his chest with pride, "especially prodigies. Prodigies are kids who show exceptional skills at a very early age. Even better then grown ups. And sometimes they are misunderstood or not appreciated at first but they end up famous in the end . . ." He caught the sound of his older brother's snickers. "Hey! It's not funny, it's true!" Jinpei broke off, his lecture finally interrupted by Joe and Ken's laughter.

Ken put a hand on the boy's shoulder and smiled at him, "Yes, I'm sure Jinpei the Great Swallow who is only 12-years-old himself knows all about prodigies." Ken patted him on the back, "That was good thinking. Now, what were they saying and how can it help us?"

Jinpei screwed up his face and puzzled out the meaning of the messages, "Well, that's where it gets harder. I'm sure Mozart is a code name for Bobby, but they were saying stuff about him being on the program and attending the debut - like they were going to a concert. Which they aren't because why would they want some piano playing kid for Galactor even if he is a prodigy. I wouldn't want to go to that concert anyway because I don't like . . ."

"Enough, Jinpei!" Joe said forcibly. "Just pull up what you've got." He indicated the vacant terminal next to him.

Jinpei flung himself into the chair and started pulling up the logs. He talked quietly to himself about prodigies and late bloomers as he did it. Ken and Joe exchanged glances over the top of Jinpei's head. It sounded plausible, but it was a slim lead to follow. The communications transmission logs came up on the screen and Ken and Joe started reading over Jinpei's shoulder as he scrolled down through them. The kid was right, it did sound like they were talking about a concert or a performance, but it still made no sense. Intent on their reading, they barely acknowledged Jun as she returned to the lab carrying a large mug of coffee and a chocolate bar. She joined the group at the computer, set the coffee next to Joe and handed the candy bar to Jinpei.

Joe sat back and folded his arms. "I think the kid's right, it's a code" he said, "but I can't figure out what they are up to, or where they are. It sure as hell sounds like they're going to the opera or something."

Jun leaned on the computer desk and faced the boys, her expression troubled. "I'm not sure either, "she sighed. She looked up at her Commander with sad, hopeful eyes. "Ken what do you think we should do?" she said.

As soon as she said it, she regretted it. Joe shot her an intense look that screamed _knock it off_ and she immediately felt ashamed of herself for playing right back into the dumb girl routine she had been trying to shake. For his part, Ken didn't seem to notice, just pressed his lips together and shook his head.

"I don't know, Jun," he said wryly, "but it sure sounds like Galactor is trading in terrorism for tuxedos and everyone is going to a concert." Something about Ken's statement struck a thought in Jun and she gasped with inspiration, her eyes wide with surprise. Ken stared at her expectantly and under his direct gaze she felt the cat grab her tongue. The heat rose to her cheeks with his intense scrutiny; _what if she was wrong, she would feel so stupid and Ken would think_ . . .

"Junie," Joe said in an attempt to break into her train of thought, "if you've got an idea let's hear it. The rest of us are striking out here." He flashed her an encouraging smile. Jun acknowledged his gaze and regained her composure.

"Right," she said, "I just had a thought." Jun seated herself behind another terminal and started to make a connection to the music conservatory's mainframe computer. "What if nothing happened out on that road?" She paused only a second as she hacked into their system, "What if Bobby and his family are still at that school and Galactor has been using the conservatory as a front all along?" The boys keyed into the idea instantly and huddled behind her to see what she was doing at the terminal.

"If it is a secret Galactor base, then maybe they have been using their computer system to get messages to their operatives," she continued. Jun fought the computer's security measures a little, but found a back door and was quickly in. She accessed a system search then typed in _Mozart_ and hit enter. The screen changed and a performance schedule popped up in front of them.

"There isn't much here," Joe said as his eyes scanned down the page, "It looks like they are doing a bunch of Mozart pieces almost every weekend. Piano Concerto No. 24, Piano Concerto No. 17, Piano Concerto No. 29, Piano Concerto No. 9. It just goes on and on."

"Hang on a sec," Jinpei interrupted, "Just wait a sec. This can't be right," he said, pointing to the screen.

"What do you see, Jinpei?" Ken asked

"It's just that this Concerto isn't right. Number 29," Jinpei said, "I read about Mozart and he only wrote 27 concertos. There can't be a No. 29. It's got to be a code or something!"

"Nice going, boy genius!" Joe laughed. He grabbed Jinpei around the neck and mussed up his mop of brown hair, "I guess it takes a prodigy to know one!"

"Quit it!" Jinpei squealed, and slipped out from under Joe's grasp.

Jun kept searching through the information for the concert and brought up more details. "Here we go," she breathed as she read the concert information, "It says that Concerto No. 29 is debuting at the Conservatory on Sunday night." She looked up at Ken, "That's tonight! We have less then six hours."

Ken straightened up and gave his orders, "Jun, start looking into the staff and faculty at the school. Joe, see if you can find plans for the building and figure out what we're walking into. Jinpei, find Ryu and tell him to start pre-flight. I want to be in the air within the hour. I'll brief Dr. Nambu," Ken turned and raced out the door, Jinpei on his heels. Jun and Joe slipped in front of their terminals and started pulling up the data Ken had requested.

"Nice going, Jun," Joe smiled as he worked, "Galactor is not going to be happy we're about to crash their concert."

"Thanks, Joe," Jun answered softly, aware that a slight blush began to rise in her cheeks, "I just hope I'm right about all this." Jun felt a shiver rise as she pulled up the faculty list at the conservatory. She really didn't want to think about what would happen if she was wrong.


	5. Chapter 5

_Author's Note: Here it comes . . . my first "mission" . . . egads! _

_

* * *

_CHAPTER FIVE

As the God Phoenix rocked and groaned under yet another direct hit from the Beetle Mecha, Ryu fought the bucking ship and wondered at what point it had all gone to hell. Not that missions necessarily were a cake walk, but geez, this one seemed to go bad like a cheese ball on a hot summer day. Ryu banked the Phoenix hard left and then pushed her upwards to gain more atmosphere between his ship and the Beetle Mecha's two rows of pinching claws. She'd already had enough heat shielding pulled off to make him worry about going fiery, and Ryu wasn't too keen on losing one of her pods or the dome to the pinchers either.

On their approach to the conservatory all plans for stealth went out the window when they were buzzed by Galactor's version of a swarm of flying ants. It was impossible to target the tiny craft with bird missiles and they were too fast to just outrun. The persistent mini-mecha clung to the Phoenix, and drilled into her hull with their spinning mandibles. The dozens of holes that pierced the ship could eventually bring the big bird down if left unchecked. Ken had gone after the ants in the G-1. He'd targeted the craft burrowing into the ship while Joe manned the guns in G-2 from the nose of the Phoenix to take out the ones still in the air. No sooner had they freed themselves of that threat, the giant Beetle mecha had crawled out of a hole in the courtyard of the conservatory. If nothing else, at least its presence had confirmed their intel regarding the location of the base was accurate.

After the third hit from the Beetle's red energy beam, Ken finally stopped arguing with Joe about using the bird missiles and had let him fire at will. Little good it had done, however, since the Mecha had some kind of shielding that exploded the missiles before they even made contact with its hull. That had pushed Ryu into a hunt and tease mode to draw the Mecha away from populated areas so they could try ramming it using the Firebird Technique. That had also pushed Ken's tension level up about ten notches, ensuring the rest of them would be dragged right along with him into his foul mood. Ken's misdirected sense of hostility first descended on Joe for wasting missiles on an obviously impervious target. Jun was next in the line of fire as he berated her for not finding an immediate solution to bringing down the mecha's shields. Jun, who had second-guessed Ken on the approach path for the attack in the first place, now scrambled with Jinpei to get some kind of coherent sensor readings out of a half-fried computer bank still smoking from the first hit. Yeah, this mission was a real turkey except the Phoenix was the bird getting roasted.

Ryu realized he must have gotten a little too far ahead of the Mecha as it opened it's mouth for yet another blistering attack with it's energy beam.

"Watch out!" Jinpei yelled.

"Hang on!" Ryu shouted and nearly put the Phoenix into a roll to avoid the beam heading toward the starboard pod. He heard Jun scream and Joe and Ken start shouting, but he blocked out their voices as he fought to maneuver the ungainly ship through an aerodynamic feat it wasn't really built to handle. He had to ride her practically on her side before he could level her off and dart away from the Mecha. Sweat poured from his face as the physical exertion of navigating the Phoenix through the prolonged battle took its toll.

"Ken, I've about had it with this," Ryu called out, "and the Phoenix can't take much more either. If you're waiting for the most dramatic moment to pull out a plan, you've found it!"

The rest of the Team scrambled back to their seats from their various prone positions on the floor of the flight deck. Ken grabbed the back of his chair and pulled himself up to his feet. Frustration pulled his jaw into a tight line as he considered his limited options. The shielding around the Beetle mecha was detonating their bird missiles before they even made contact with the hull and the energy ray that came from its mouth wreaked havoc on all of the ships systems. It had to be a product of Dr. Goodwin's magnetic research but without his assistance and his data, they had no way to counter Galactor's deadly new weapons. Rescuing Goodwin and his family was even more of a priority now. These weapons were powerful enough to alter the entire course of the war. Resolved to bring the fight back to Galactor, Ken turned to his team as a plan formed in his mind.

Ken's brilliant blue eyes narrowed in cold determination and he spat out his orders through a clenched jaw. "It wants us so badly, let him have us." Four faces looked up at him from their command stations in shocked disbelief, but Ken continued on in a steely voice, "Ryu, reverse course and head back toward the conservatory. Jun, go down to the cargo bay and rig one of the fuel cells to blow. We're going to jettison it and blow it just as Ryu makes a stunning dive into the sea. Let them think they've got us."

"Brilliant plan, Ken" Joe sneered as he got up from his chair to confront his commander, "and just what are we going to do from the bottom of the ocean?"

"You won't be down there, " Ken replied lightly to his Second and let a small, cold smile play across his face. "The four of us are going to ditch the ship just as we blow the explosive. We'll circle down and infiltrate the conservatory from the ground. Joe, we'll use that airway shaft from the original construction that you dug up from those plans. Ryu will bail us out after we've got the data and the Goodwins. Let's move it!"

Jun didn't wait to be told a second time. She leapt from her chair and raced for the lift, already pulling one of her small explosive charges from her belt pouch. She had to admit that she felt a little bit relieved to get off the bridge. Since take off from base Ken had been pushing her hard for answers she just didn't have. She didn't know enough about Dr. Goodwin's research to speculate about what they might be up against, but Ken had interpreted her inability to give him a firm answer as some kind of defiance on her part. Jun wasn't used to being the brunt of Ken's firestorms, that honor was usually reserved for Joe. As the lift lowered she started setting the detonator in her yo-yo for a remote trigger, happy to be assigned a task that got her a reprieve from the tense dynamic that had taken hold over all of their interactions today.

Joe spared a moment to watch Jun start down the lift and then flung himself back into his seat. He pulled up the building plans and reviewed the locations of the access shaft as well as probable sites for the detention area of the base. Jinpei and Ken crowded around him as they analyzed the medieval floor plan of the lowest levels. The newer construction was the bulk of the conservatory and it seemed most likely that the base would be in the lower sections beneath ground.

Ryu continued to taunt and tease the enemy mecha, but this time he led it back toward their original target.

Ken's communicator chirped and he raised his wrist to his mouth. "Go ahead, Jun," he said crisply.

"The charges are set and the fuel cell is in place for release from the lower cargo bay doors. Ryu will be able to trigger it from . . ." Her words abruptly cut off in a scream as the ship banked hard and did a full roll. The boys bounced around the cockpit like dice on a craps table as Ryu fought to level her off.

"What the hell!" Joe yelled as he pulled himself back into his chair.

"Damn energy beam again," Ryu yelled back as he threw the throttle forward and darted the Phoenix further away from the mecha, "it scraped up our underside and caught the starboard pod."

"Jun!" Ken yelled into his communicator, "Jun! Are you alright?' There was a moment of tense silence before the communicator clicked in to reveal Jun's breathy voice.

"I'm ok," she answered with a slight quaver in her words, "but do you think you could ask Ryu not to get so frisky while the only thing I have to hang on to is a fuel cell rigged to explode?"

Joe flashed Ken a quick smile at Jun's small joke, reassured that she was fine, but only met an icy glare back from his Commander. So much for his reputed staunch professionalism. Joe couldn't believe that his little display with Jun in the hallway during practice yesterday could cause this much upheaval in his Commander's psyche. His train of thought was interrupted by Ryu's shout.

"Sorry, Jun!" Ryu called into his own wrist, "but you all better get to the dome because we're about 30 seconds from our target and that mecha is about 45 seconds from blowing us to bits!"

"Got it," Jun answered, "on my way!"

"Let's go!" Ken shouted and the three of them headed for the lift.

If Ken thought things might go better on the ground, he was sadly mistaken. Getting to the infiltration point had been easy enough, but that was about where it stopped. The shaft they used to gain access to the base was a rough cut passageway that angled up from the base of the cliffs and into the lower parts of the castle. Difficult footing compounded by low, uneven ceilings made for slow going and sometimes they nearly crawled to get though. As they got closer to the building above them, the passage became cluttered with debris discarded from the castle above. Rotting bits of wooden furniture, old bedding, anything that the former tenants hadn't wanted seemed to have ended up down the shaft at some point. They were frustrated and irritable when they finally reached a steel access port - the only sign they had seen since they started their climb that modern technology had intersected this medieval pit.

Joe got to work on the door, using the drill attachment from his gun to bore out the lock. Ken motioned the other two close and worked out the plan. "Joe, Jinpei, you two find the Goodwins. Jun and I will tackle the data. Make contact when you've got them and we'll rendezvous back here." His team nodded their affirmatives and Joe started to push open the door. Ken put his hand on Joe's shoulder to hold him back a moment. "Try to be quiet about it, okay?"

"Like freaking mice, Ken," Joe retorted with a smug smile.

Satisfied, Ken gave a quick nod of his head and they ran out into the corridor. Utilizing their knowledge from their earlier study of the building plans, Joe and Jinpei headed off to the right, towards the closest lift. They were only two floors down from what they thought would be the detention area and since their entry hadn't been detected they stood half a chance of making it out of there undiscovered. It would be far more difficult to keep the civilians safe if they had to fight their way out.

"We need a room with mainframe access to get at the files," Jun said, looking expectantly at Ken.

Ken closed his eyes and thought for a moment. His focus was muddled as the schematics swam through his subconscious in direct defiance to the clear picture he expected of himself. He had been distracted, off his game, for this whole mission and now it was coming home to roost. He took a deep breath and stilled his mind to force the answer and clarity he needed.

A breath, two, and his blue eyes snapped open. "This way," he said and ran off down the corridor, confident that Jun sprinted right behind him.

Ken remembered a series of small rooms and hoped one of them would be a lab. They opened a few doors, but only found storage. The next door led to a staircase. "This floor looks mostly unused. Let's try up a level," Ken said to Jun, as he guided her toward the stairwell. They quickly climbed the flight of stairs, Jun following closely at Ken's heels. He stopped at the exit door and slowly cracked it open to check for enemy patrols while Jun stood at his back and scanned the stairwell for any indication they had been spotted. Jun's presence behind him was something he usually found reassuring and comfortable, but today he could feel a tense energy emanating from her. Logically, he knew he could count on her and had faith in her talents and abilities, but intuitively he still felt off-kilter. Ken's "sixth sense" had saved him enough times that he knew he couldn't just ignore this feeling of wrongness, but right now, in the middle of a mission, he didn't know what he could do to change it. Disconcerting as it was, he knew he had to remain focused.

The hallway appeared clear so Ken silently pushed the door open further and spotted two goons standing guard about 15 feet further down the hallway. They looked bored as they slouched against the wall and chatted idly. This was a good sign to Ken that whatever was behind them was important enough to be guarded, but not so important as to be used often. It probably held just the kind of access they were looking for.

Ken gave Jun's shoulder a gentle squeeze and she turned her head to meet his gaze. He held up two fingers to indicate the enemy and pointed down the corridor to show their location. Then he gestured to himself and held up his birdrang. She nodded in affirmation and turned fully toward him, prepared to enter the corridor after he cleared it. He watched her turn her head back to the stairwell to keep an eye on the rear approach, just as she was trained to do.

Knowing Jun was ready, Ken moved swiftly through the door and released his weapon before the two goons could even look up. Jun fell in step immediately behind him, focused on making sure the other end of the corridor remained clear. The goons slumped to the ground with little more than a grunt as Ken caught his returning birdrang in his left hand. Both Ken and Jun leapt over the two prostate guards and raced down the hallway to the door. This time Ken stood watch as Jun got to work.

Jun crouched before the door and pulled an explosive charge from her belt and began to set the detonator. An explosive solution came to mind quickly, but as she let the tip of her tongue sweep slowly along her top lip in concentration, Ken's hand quickly dropped down to cover hers. She looked only briefly at the thin royal-blue leather barely disguising his knuckles and raised her eyes in question. "Ken?"

His lips pursed slightly open as he surveyed their surroundings. "No," he ordered softly, his voice only a fraction above a whisper. "Not that."

Jun watched with a small frown of confusion; confusion that quickly morphed into embarrassment as Ken pointed sharply at the door's access panel. Jun felt her cheeks flush. The order had been to use discretion and stealth – the exact opposite of what she had been intending to set up. She bit on one side of her lower lip and dipped her ear to her shoulder as she raised her eyes to the access panel. "Yes, the access panel. " she whispered after a hard swallow. "I'll try to retrieve the access codes."

Jun stood and slipped the yo-yo back into her belt before she popped the panel and began to tap out a series of keys on the internal communications pad. Although this was a procedure she had worked through a myriad of times across their field assignments, she found herself struggling with this particular panel. Security protocols had obviously been tightened since their last mission, and she was quickly running out of ideas to gain access. She could sense Ken's growing impatience and had to admit she shared it too. This was taking too long. Jun switched her tactics and instead started to pull and rearrange wires from the mechanical control panel. She bypassed the security system and then effectively hot-wired the door mechanism. It slid open with a "swish" that seemed to reverberate down the entire corridor. Jun let out a long held breath as she slipped into the room and began to look for a computer terminal while Ken made short work of pulling the dead guards out of the hallway to stow them in a heap in the corner of the room.

The pristine lab looked practically brand new and unused. There were no notes or papers on any of the desks, and nothing in progress on the worktables. It seemed to Jun that this base was newly constructed, so much so that it was probably not fully occupied yet. She hoped that meant that the Beetle Mecha was just a prototype for the new magnetic shielding and that Galactor hadn't yet started to proliferate the newly plundered technology. If they could filch the data from the Galactor computer systems, they could prevent any more magnetic weapons being created from Dr. Goodwin's research. Jun ran over to the nearest computer terminal, slid into the chair and got to work. Ken moved silently, but she could feel his presence directly behind her once he finished clearing the bodies. She felt the subtle shift in weight on the back of her chair as he pressed his hands to grip the very top of the backrest. Ken had shifted into a sentinel position at her rear, ready and able to counter any unexpected visitors while she worked. She didn't have to look up at him to know where his focus was. Right now he was her guard, her protector.

Jun was a good hacker and knew Galactor systems language well, but try as she might, she found every avenue to the mainframe shut down. After five quiet, tense minutes of unmitigated failure, Jun finally had to admit defeat. "Ken, I can't get to it. The system is designed for some other kind of interface. The keyboard will only let me into this terminal, not the mainframe."

"Dammit," Ken whispered hotly. "What now?"

"I don't know, Ken," Jun answered with a light shudder at his hot breath panting against her cheek. She flicked her gaze toward Ken, and had to set her head at an awkward angle to view his expression. His head and stoop was so low that his chin had almost nestled into her shoulder and the line of his jaw throbbed as he bit down on his aggravation. "There is no way in and no way to reach the data from here," she continued in a frustrated whisper. "Maybe we should try finding the mainframe?"

"No time," Ken whispered back. "Our intelligence on this place isn't good enough for us to find it quickly. The more we move around, the greater our chances of being discovered. We can't risk it if we are going to save the Goodwins." Ken stood and looked thoughtfully around the room at the other workstations. "Maybe we need to try another terminal?"

"That won't work," Jun answered definitively as she felt the tension start to rise between them. Ken just didn't seem to be listening to her. "One terminal will be just like the next. We need the correct interface or we need the mainframe. I can't do anything else."

"We have to do a data wipe or this entire mission is a failure," Ken answered quietly through gritted teeth. "Just blowing this base isn't enough to ensure the data won't be recovered. Besides, I'm not sure how to do that and still get the Goodwins out of here in one piece," Ken felt his frustration turning to anger. Usually the plan came so clearly to him, but now he was stymied. "Try again," he said to Jun.

"But, Ken . . ." Jun started. She inhaled the remainder of the sentence as Ken cut her off.

"Jun, just try again," Ken said deliberately.

Jun shook her head in disagreement but did as she was told. She focused again on the computer but found herself merely repeating the same access pathways she had tried before. She tapped away in vexed silence for a few moments and then suddenly, the screen went blank.

"No!" Jun cried out, fist slamming on the table in frustration. She ignored Ken's shocked look at her display of temper and pushed the chair back from the terminal. "We've got to get out of here," Jun said with determined intensity, "That terminal just got shut down, which means they know we're here."

Ken rolled his eyes in annoyance, but said nothing. They were out of time. He made his way to the door with Jun beside him and checked the corridor for goons before running to the stairwell. On the way back down, his wrist communicator beeped.

"G2 to G1," Joe's hushed voice came over the communicator.

"Go ahead, G2" Ken answered breathlessly as he ran down the stairs, two steps at a time.

"We've got 'em. No problems. Making our way to the rendezvous now . . . " His words died as the room darkened to red lighting and a blaring intruder alert sounded throughout the base.

"What the hell are you two doing?" Joe hissed into his communicator.

"Save it!" Ken shot back, "Let's just get out of here!"

Jun and Ken burst out of the stairwell and ran back down the hallway toward the entry door to the airshaft. It was little used, and possibly overlooked. If they could make it back there, they might still escape undetected.

Ken and Jun met no resistance as they dashed through the hallways. They arrived at the rendezvous before Joe and Jinpei, and waited breathlessly in the empty corridor. Ken's mind raced to consider the next steps. This entire mission had taken too long and without this exit point, they would be in serious trouble. They were too far down for Ryu to just blast through with the Phoenix to get to them. They needed to protect this exit no matter what. If Joe and Jinpei could make it down here he could get everyone into the corridor and then have Jun blow the exit behind them.

Ken's thoughts were interrupted by the distant sound of gunfire and the agonized wail of a women screaming in pain. Ken and Jun momentarily locked eyes; they had been in enough battles with civilians nearby to know the anguished cry of a desolate mother. They raced down the corridor toward the next stairwell and the commotion. Ken used his shoulder to barrel through the door, and gasped to find Joe and Jinpei sheltering the Goodwins on the landing, pinned down by enemy gunfire from above. Mrs. Goodwin cradled Bobby in her arms, sobbing. Dr. Goodwin crouched protectively in front of his wife and son. He bled heavily from a gash along his face, but ignored it as he shot a small Galactor-issue firearm up at the troops. Joe and Jinpei were more heavily armed, each with Galactor sniper rifles. Both of them kept up a constant barrage of weapons fire, which kept the soldiers at bay but made no progress in allowing extradition from the situation.

Jinpei heard the door splinter open below him and turned to fire on what he thought was the enemy taking a rear position. He pulled up on the gun as soon as he realized it was the rest of his team. "Onechan, hurry!" he cried out in urgency, "The boy got shot while we were fighting our way down!" He pointed at bobby and then turned to resume the fire fight.

Jun and Ken both took flight and as Jun somersaulted to land protectively in front of the wounded boy and his mother, Ken leapt to Joe's side to toss his birdrang through the soldiers massed along the stairwell.

"Took you long enough, " Joe grunted at Ken while he continued to steadily pick off the soldiers who had survived Ken's weapon toss. "What's the plan?"

"No one's below us yet, that level is basically deserted," Ken answered as an escape plan crystallized in his mind. "If we can get back to the corridor and blow this stairwell, we will have a clear path out of here."

Any further tactical discussion was interrupted by a sharp yell of pain from behind them. Ken looked backward in time to share a sudden wince at the piercing cry from Mrs. Goodwin as she called out her husband's name. Ken's eyes flicked to see Dr. Goodwin slumped forward as his wife, now hysterical, tried to pull him back towards her. "Goodwin's hit!" Ken shouted to Joe and sent his birdrang round again to drive the enemy back once more. "We have to move, now!"

"Jun," Ken yelled over his shoulder, "set the stairwell to blow. We need to keep them from following us." Jun nodded her understanding and ran down to the bottom of the stairs. Ken sent his birdrang round again and called out to the Swallow. "Jinpei, pass me your gun and get Bobby. Can you carry him?"

Jinpei tossed the gun to Ken and yelled, "No problem!" He back flipped down the stair well to land securely, if not gracefully, in front of the wounded child. He scooped the boy up in his arms.

"Joe, get them out of here!" Ken ordered. Joe looked like he was about to protest but Ken didn't give him the chance. "We need Goodwin to find a way around that mecha's shield!" Ken locked eyes with his second and gave him a steely promise, "I'll be right behind you."

Another scream from Mrs. Goodwin and Joe realized this was not a moment to argue. He leapt down to the landing, pulled the doctor to his feet and slung him over his shoulder. He grabbed the crying wife by her upper arm and put his body between her and the bullets. "Let's go!" he urged her with a tug toward the door. Jimpei followed them out and rushed past Jun as she finished setting the charges.

"Ken, we're clear!" Jun shouted and looked up at him for confirmation.

Ken nodded at her and then laid down heavy fire as he backed his way down the stairs. Certain that he was on his way out, Jun slipped into the corridor, only to be met with a full squadron bearing down on her from the other end of the hallway. She was the only thing between them and the safe exit for the rest of the team. Jun was a good fighter, but there was no way she could keep all of them from getting past her. The only option was do to something that would stop them all in their tracks. She reached into her pouch and pulled two handfuls of mini-explosives.

"Here, catch," she called cheekily as she hurled the first cluster of explosives at the charging soldiers. She said nothing, but smiled, as she launched into a flip and flicked the remaining charges up to the ceiling. Her landing was soft and allowed a flawless transition into a run to the stairwell doorway, where Ken was waiting for her. Her hand slid into Ken's with the intention to tug him as far away from the impending shockwave of her explosives. "Let's go."

Ken didn't need the invitation, but gave a nod to accept it. As the pair fell into a run the first of the charges detonated. Both Ken and Jun found themselves propelled forward with the invisible force preceding the orange fireball. Ken felt the lick of the flame first and immediately drew his third's back in against his chest. He curled around her and collapsed them into a heap at the bottom of the staircase. Winded, but essentially unharmed, Jun and Ken got to their feet as the soldiers on the staircase above picked themselves from the explosions that had shaken the stairwell. Jun glanced behind Ken to the shattered hallway. She had brought the ceiling down on the advancing troops, but it was still clear from this side.

"The ceiling cave-in stopped another squad, but Ken, they can still get through here," Jun explained quietly in his ear. Ken looked up at the advancing soldiers and then back at the doorway. There was no way they would be able to make it out.

"Blow it, Jun," he said, not looking back at her.

Jun sucked in a shocked gasp. "Ken, we're too close," she answered only a millisecond prior to the sound of dozens of rifle bolts clicking into position. They were trapped. Ken slowly raised his arms behind her in what looked like a gesture of submission. Jun realized he was maneuvering to use his mantle to help protect them both from the blast. She slipped one hand to the detonator on her belt and put the other on the small of Ken's back. She looked up at him and he gave the slightest of nods.

The goons came closer, feral smiles of victory slashed across their faces. Jun's eyes remained calm and she counted down by tapping Ken's back. One, two, three and then she hit the detonator. At the same time Ken flung them both forward. He wrapped his arms around her and rolled them both in his mantle. The force of the explosion pushed them into the far corner of the stair and debris and bodies rained down around them. Chunks of concrete and steel broke free from the stairs above and crashed over their backs. Something struck Jun hard against the side of her helmet and she cried out in pain; her head swam with the force of the blow. She felt Ken tighten his body around hers as he instinctively tried to protect her from more harm. With a final rumble and shower of concrete, the bottom portion of the stair gave way and fell on top of them both, driving them both hard into the ground to finally push Jun to unconsciousness.

Jun stirred feeling like she was suffocating. She forced her eyes open, but could see only darkness. She panicked for a moment and started to frantically push herself out of wherever she was. She was initially alarmed to find that instead of rock her hands pressed against something yielding. She only questioned it for a moment before she snapped to a frightening realization: Ken! He lay on top of her, completely still and limp. She could hear voices nearby and the sound of rock and steel being shifted. The sound thundered a brief shudder of fear through her tiny frame. It was obvious to her the sounds were from Galactor agents working feverishly to ensure there were no survivors wearing Kagaku Ninja Tai uniforms.

"Ken," Jun whispered, her breath coming in ragged gasps. She felt like she had no air wrapped under his mantle and the pressure on her chest was becoming unbearable. "Ken please, " her soft cry was urgent, "please you have to wake up." She pushed against him hard but she was pinned so awkwardly she had no leverage. Jun started to choke and cough, realizing the air was thick with concrete dust. Searing pain shot up her torso and she wondered if her ribs might be cracked. Jun was on the verge of desperation as she breathed in the dusty air in and choked and coughed more forcibly.

Dazed by the force of the explosion, Ken was pulled back to full consciousness by the choking whimpers of Jun below him. As she struggled ineffectually against his chest he realized that his full body weight was pressed on top of her, and something else in turn seemed to be holding him down. Ken quickly untangled his arms from Jun and pressed them to the floor to leverage his torso at least off her chest. He got his feet underneath himself and used his legs and arms to thrust his back up and heave off the debris from the ruined staircase that had trapped them. He began to choke on the dust himself as he cleared enough of the debris to move to Jun's side. The left side of her helmet was badly damaged and her face was red as she struggled to breathe.

"Jun, are you okay?" he knelt beside her in the rubble to support her shoulders and lightly pulled her to a seated position. She held on to him and choked enough that tears coursed down her cheeks, but she looked up at him and nodded.

"Well, isn't this sweet," a gravelly voice intoned from above them, "It looks like we caught two little love birds."

Ken and Jun looked above them to the ruins of the staircase. They were surrounded by armed soldiers sneering down at them while their bulky commander laughed heartily.

"Lord Katse will be pleased when we give him this little present. Don't move a muscle, Gatchaman, because Lord Katse will be happy with my gift dead or alive."

Ken hung his head in what he assumed the Galactor commander would take as a gesture of defeat but to Jun, he gave a meaningful stare.

Ken's earnest gaze seemed to bore into her eyes and then he shifted his glance down. Jun followed his gaze to see her hands clutching his forearm and wrist, just next to his bracelet. She took in a small gasp and flicked her eyes up expectantly to Ken. She pursed her lips and caught a nearly imperceptible nod from Ken, little more then a slight lowering of his chin. But she understood. Blocked by Ken's body from the view of the Galactor commander and with little movement other than a slight shift of her right hand, she began to tap on his communicator.

Ken smiled down at her as he read the message she sent out to their teammates- at least finally they had gotten something right between them.

Joe and Jinpei were making their way up the abandoned airshaft with the wounded Goodwins when they heard the distant concussive thrums of two explosions. Joe looked expectantly behind him, but saw nothing approaching in the gloom. Then a third, louder blast thumped in the distance, along with the echoes of falling debris. The light from passage entrance was snuffed out as the ceiling of the corridor caved in behind them. A whumpf of warm air laden with dust and smoke swooshed past them into the tunnel. The escape route was blocked with no sign of Ken or Jun.

"Joe, we have to go back," Jinpei said in a voice laced with worry and fear.

Mrs. Goodwin gave a small sob and reached for her son. "Please, please," she begged, "You have to help us!" She looked wildly between the two ninjas, pleading with her eyes for their sympathy.

Joe looked passed her, hoping again that he would hear or see Ken and Jun making their way up the shaft toward them. But there was nothing. "Where are they," he cursed inside a soft growl to hide his worry. As if on cue, Joe's wrist communicator started to flash. He gently set Dr. Goodwin to the ground and focused on the signal. The coded message was terse, but he got the gist of it. _Captured. Exit blocked. Return to base._ There was nothing else as the signal cut off abruptly.

"Did you get that?" Joe asked Jinpei.

"Yes, but they're captured," the younger boy panted excitably, "We can't just leave them!"

Joe was of half a mind to agree; but with both the Doctor and the boy seriously wounded, there was no way he could leave them here and go back for Ken and Jun. Dammit! Every inch of him was screaming to race back there and he knew – just knew – he couldn't do it. Joe took a deep breath to calm down and shook his head.

"No, Jinpei, no we can't," Joe answered, looking at the small face turned up to him for guidance. "We have to help these people. Ken and Jun are going to be all right. "

"But Joe, we can't just . . ." Jinpei choked off his own response and swallowed a sob as his eyes filled with tears.

"Squirt, they're fine," Joe said, relying on his cocky tone to hide his true feelings, "If they were in immediate danger, Jun would have said so. It's not like we haven't had to bust them out of a Galactor cell before." Jinpei looked uncertain, but realized that his older brother was right. He winced as Dr. Goodwin groaned in pain. Joe put a reassuring hand on the boy's shoulder, "Let's get these people out of here so we can come back and kick some Galactor ass."


End file.
